Kathleen Falk has a political machine in Dane County she hopes will lead her to higher office. It is, therefore, instructive to observe how county politics operates under her watchful eye. Vicki McKenna is tracking how neighborhood elitism is seized as an opportunity to expand government land control.
In summary: Arboretum Lane (see the scattered houses just below the lake) is part of an older legally plotted area adjacent to a University of Wisconsin nature preserve south of Lake Wingra. Home builder Darren Kittleson purchases two lots from an existing homeowner with plans to construct two new environmentally friendly houses. Existing residents, including a few UW Professors, freak out and the battle between Protect the UW Arboretum and Dane County Land Grab begins.
Pressed to find legal ways to prevent the two new homes, the Dane County Zoning and Land Regulation Committee arrange a quiet meeting in an out of the way venue and draft a zoning change. The county has established a Shoreland Protection District with very broad power to control private land use “within 1,000 feet from the ordinary high-water mark of navigable lakes, ponds or flowages". Now the committee, with as little attention as possible, attempts to amend the provisions to require consolidation and building restrictions on older plotted lots.
Minutes: ORDINANCE AMENDMENT #10, 2006-2007, AMENDING CHAPTER 11 OF THE DANE COUNTY CODE OF ORDINANCES, REGULATING NON CONFORMING LOTS IN THE SHORELAND ZONE. THIS MATTER WAS NOT PART OF THE JOINT MEETING.
Motion by Hendrick, seconded by Miles and carried unanimously to amend Ordinance Amendment Number 10, 06-07 at Article 2 to add subsection (1a) to read: (1a) Transfer of Development Rights. The owner of a lot which, as a result of the adoption of Ordinance Amendment 10, 06-07, ceases to be an allowable building site, may transfer the right to build one (1) residence pursuant to section 10.159. Such a transfer shall be memorialized by the recording of a deed restriction precluding residential development of the non-buildable shoreland lot.
In essence, the desire to placate NIMBY UW Professors is understood as an opportunity to administratively limit the development rights of thousands of land owners across the entire county. The primacy of common good over private rights is being justified in the name of protecting the environment from hypothetical harm and Kathleen Falk could easily halt the process, but it is entirely consistent with everything she believes. Saving nature from the harm of human ownership is what she feels driven to do to all of Wisconsin.
